Company CEO arrested over fraudulent Pokémon card purchases

We often hear about petty thieves stealing Pokémon cards in the hopes of turning a profit, but today brings us a similar story with a very important difference.

Former C-Labo CEO/president Nishiura Keiichiro was arrested for a plan that involved Pokémon cards. Keiichiro managed to steal a whopping $1.2 million from C-Labo, all under the scheme of purchasing over 40k second-hand Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. The thing is, Keiichiro ended up pocketing the lion’s share of the money.

What Keiichiro did was bill C-Labo for the Pokémon card purchases, and then C-Labo made a cash transfer to the supposed seller’s bank account. The thing is, Keiichiro was actually in cahoots with the seller, leaving Keiichiro to pocket just over $1 million from the deal, with remaining $200k going to his partner in crime.

Keiichiro admitted to his crimes and was arrested under Japan’s “Companies Act.” In a report detailing the crime, it was stated that Keiichiro spent the stolen cash on “hotels, expensive wine, traveling overseas with women, luxury cars, and paying his own rent.”